YouTube has announced that it will stream free ad-supported TV shows for the first time, a move that puts it in more direct competition with the growing number of free streaming services on the market, including Tubi, Pluto TV, The Roku Channel, IMDb TV, Xumo, Plex and Peacock from NBCU. The company said it will initially offer its US users access to more than 4.000 free tv episodes of programs that includeHell's Kitchen","Andromeda"And"Heartland” among other titles. It plans to add up to 100 more titles each week, including shows and movies, to its free streaming collection.
YouTube already hosts a series of free ads on films so today's free TV launch is more of an expansion of its free streaming efforts, rather than something entirely new for the company.
Currently, YouTube Home to more than 1500 movies from companies like Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution, Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, Lionsgate, FilmRise and others. This month, for example, it has added new movies like gone in sixty seconds, Runaway bride y Legally Blonde among others.
But the broader streaming industry, which includes advertising and subscription, tends to gravitate toward TV rather than movies. New original projects that probably would have been movies, or at least miniseries, in earlier times, are often now released as shows of compulsive consumption. The creators of the platform also like this trend as it means users are logging more hours watching content. The talent and the money have long followed, with television series gaining both critical attention and acclaim often only accorded to Hollywood movies.
Image credits: YouTube
Meanwhile, free TV streaming is driving much of the growth in the broader streaming market.
According to data from Kantar, 85% of US households have a video subscription, but the quarterly growth comes primarily from ad-supported free TV and ad-supported video-on-demand services. 18% of households now use at least one ad-supported free TV service as of Q2021 XNUMX, a figure that more than doubled from QXNUMX a year earlier. Most of the new users in the last quarter were those who signed up for accounts from Peacock, IMDb TV, Tubi and The Roku Channel, it said. Kantar.
YouTube, meanwhile, has a significant share of connected TV in the US, though not free TV. Nielsen data indicates that YouTube reached more than 135 million people through connected TVs in the United States in December 2021. But when users searched for TV shows on YouTube, it directed them to rent or buy the titles in question; free streaming was not an option.
That is changing with the launch of the free TV service. YouTube It will introduce new navigation and immersive banners that will help users choose how they want to watch, either rent or buy, as before, or free with ads, when available. Meanwhile, commercial breaks will vary in frequency depending on viewers and the context in which they watch shows, it says. YouTube. Most ads are sold through the YouTube Select program.
Beyond the handful of bigger names, many of the shows available for free are older series, such as "Father Knows Best," "Unsolved Mysteries," "21 Jump Street," "The Carol Burnett Show," "That Girl." », «Car 54, where are you? ”, “The Lone Ranger”, “Hopalong Cassidy”, “Laugh-In”, “The Dick Van Dyke Show” and others. Many of the free shows only offered 1 or 2 seasons, even if the series ran longer. This library will not immediately convert to YouTube in one of the main free TV destinations, but it could help alleviate the boredom of regular users of YouTube.
YouTube It also noted that many of the free TV shows are available in 1080p high definition with 5.1 surround sound audio on compatible devices.
Shows will be available to US users via web browser, on mobile devices and on connected TV through the YouTube TV app. You can see a complete list of programs through youtube.com/freeware.
